In the oil and gas industry, current practice in planning a multiple-well package for a field does not determine the optimal placement of the wellbores and their target completion zones based on the production from the field. In the current practice of simulating oil or gas production from a reservoir simulator, wells are planned external to the simulator through a manual procedure using two-dimensional net pay maps or other two-dimensional properties or, within a three-dimensional reservoir model, using static geological properties to guide the selection. A wellbore plan may include: i) true wellbore geometry/trajectory; ii) wellbore tieback connections to pipelines and delivery systems; and iii) optimal formation perforation zones with true production from the dynamic flow of oil, gas, and water.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,096,172, for example, automated well target selection is based on static properties of the geologic formation. The identified locations are not updated from actual reservoir performance fluid flow, that is, oil, water, or gas production or injection. Similar disadvantages are described in “Optimal Field Development Planning of Well Locations with Reservoir Uncertainty” by A. S. Cullick, K. Narayanan, and S. Gorell, wherein a component of the planning process is automated by optimizing movement of perforation zones utilizing a reservoir simulator to evaluate field production. However, this approach does not address optimizing and simultaneously i) verifying wellbore drillability hazards and ii) computing updates to x) true well geometry/trajectory; y) tie-back connections to pipelines and delivery systems; and z) optimal formation perforation zones with true production from the dynamic flow of oil, gas, and water. This approach also requires a completed simulation prior to updating potential locations, which is costly in terms of computer resources and time.
Therefore, there is a need for a different dynamic approach to developing a plan for multiple wellbores with a reservoir simulator that considers actual and potential reservoir performance and updates the wellbore plan as it is being developed. There is also a need for a new approach to developing a plan for multiple wellbores with a reservoir simulator that considers wellbore hazards and updates the wellbore plan during a simulation run.